Annie Betancourt: Recognize working families on Labor Day

On this Labor Day, as we squeeze in one more weekend getaway to the beach with the family, we can also give some consideration to the workers who are the backbone of the economic engine that powers our everyday life.

Florida has just surpassed a GDP of 1 trillion dollars and we currently have the 17th largest economy in the world. However, too often, workers in Florida and especially women, are not experiencing economic progress. One out of every 3 workers among us in Florida earns under $12 per hour. Two-thirds of minimum wage workers in Florida are women, earning just $8.25 per hour.

Simply put, our state government fails to ensure that hardworking families have all they need to thrive: living wages, basic protections such as sick-and-family leave, pregnancy accommodations, equal pay for women and more.

In an effort to understand the differences between states, and to rank them, anti-poverty organization Oxfam America created the Best States to Work Index, which measures labor and employment policies of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The index reflects the idea that workers fare better when they earn higher wages, have the right to organize, and enjoy protections around paid sick and family leave, among others.

According to the Best States to Work Index, Florida ranks at 37 in the nation in its treatment of workers. On the plus side, our state minimum wage, currently at $8.25, exceeds the federal minimum wage. However, it still falls far short of what the state’s working families really need. Two full-time working parents in Florida with two kids each need to make $15.79 an hour to meet basic living costs, according to the MIT living wage calculator.

Given the difference in the cost of living between South Florida and the Panhandle, the legislature has tied the hands of local governments which know the needs of citizen’s best — from establishing a minimum wage that meets the cost of living and is appropriate for their residents, although Miami Beach is challenging that shortsighted ban in the Florida Supreme Court. In addition, Florida fails to require accommodations for pregnant women at the workplace and to provide paid sick and family leave for workers.

Those policies are especially important to ensure strong and healthy families.

But there could be change afoot. There is a movement to get a $15 minimum wage on the ballot in 2020. If passed, that would gradually increase the minimum wage to $10 per hour in 2021, then up to $15 by 2026. More than 70 percent of our state’s voters supported the ballot to increase the minimum wage in 2004, and it’s time for an update, especially at a time when the cost of housing is out of reach for many Floridians. And a group of progressive organizations have come together to promote a Florida Workers’ Agenda for the next governor, detailing a slate of reforms that would go a long way toward improving the state’s environment as a place to work.

Critics of such measures claim that providing a decent work environment means killing jobs and, in the end, will mean a drop in the quality of life of our citizens. So Oxfam looked to see if the states ranked lowest on the Best States to Work Index also have a better quality of life.

In their index, states with higher scores tend to have more prosperous economies and lower infant mortality rates: California ranks No. 3 on the index, and the infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) is 4.2; in Alabama, No. 49, the infant mortality rate is 9.1. In Florida, we have an infant mortality rate of 6.1 per 1,000 births.

As we mark yet another Labor Day, let’s accept the reality that it’s up to us Floridians to demand changes that will tip the scales back toward working families.

Together, we can make a difference by standing up for workers.

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Former state Rep. Annie Betancourt is an ambassador of Oxfam America Sisters on the Planet.